Clause 2 - Piloting of new provisions
School Transport Bill
2:30 pm
Ms Charlotte Atkins (Assistant Whip (funded by HM Treasury); Staffordshire Moorlands, Labour)
That is because we are considering pilots. I was talking about the general situation. We shall be examining a range of issues in connection with the pilots, such as improving school transport and various other options, which is why we are specifying that we will not use the three-for-two allowance in the pilots. The allowance has a limited application. It applies only to stage fare buses that have bench seats, the buses that stop regularly and do not have seat belts. The allowance is applicable not only to school transport, but general public transport. However, I appreciate that it is more likely to be used in the school context because that is when overcrowding is most likely to occur. All seats are required to be fitted with seat belts on dedicated school journeys by minibus or coach. The allowance cannot be used in that context.
I hope that my remarks have allayed some of the concerns that have been raised.
Mr. Huw Edwards (Monmouth) I thank the Minister for her assurance that the three-for-two concession will not be permitted in the 20 pilots. On her second point, the accident that she referred to—the Stuart Cunningham-Jones tragedy—took place not in my constituency but in the vale of Glamorgan. I acknowledge that overcrowding per se was not the main cause of that accident.
The Minister says that there is no evidence of the three-for-two rule and the excessive overcrowding that that can permit causing concern. That is a bit like the assurances we always get when we are campaigning for provisions such as traffic calming, which is that there has not been an accident yet. I ask her to imagine a 52-seater bus that has 78 people sitting in it under the three-for-two rule, as well as the 10, 12, 15 or however many who are allowed to stand. Should there be a serious accident involving a vehicle with that level of overcrowding, people would look back and ask why it is still legal for 78 children under 14 to be sitting on double seats.